Storage device management method, system and program

ABSTRACT

Use situations of storage devices utilizing a storage area network (SAN) are predicted and the devices are automatically managed on the basis of the predicted results. To manage the devices utilizing the SAN, there is established the policy prescribing actions each executed when some object to be judged satisfies some condition with regard to storage devices. Information concerning use situations of the devices is collected and a value of an object to be judged of the policy is calculated based on collected information to judge whether the value of the object to be judged satisfies a condition of the policy. When the condition is satisfied, the action of the policy is executed. The objects to be judged of the policy may be actual result values in the past, current values or prediction values in the future relative to use capacity of storages, the number of I/O operations of disk or fragmentation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to management technique of storage devicesin which a use situations of the storage devices utilizing a storagearea network (SAN) are predicted to manage the storage devices on thebasis of the predicted result.

Heretofore, there is known the storage area network (SAN) that is asystem for connecting storage devices through a network in contrast witha system for connecting computers through a network. In the SAN, thestorage devices are usually connected through a fiber channel switch.Further, the storage devices can be connected to the storage devicesinstalled in a remote place through a channel extender. The SAN ischaracterized in that transfer between the storage devices is madestably at a high speed.

Usually, a predetermined management system is provided for such storagedevices and the management system can be used to make setting andmanagement of various kinds to the storage devices. For example, it canbe established that various use situations of the storage devices aredisplayed, which disk is used from which computer, what is the capacitythereof and so on.

On the other hand, JP-A-8-137725 discloses the technique of predictingthe performance of a computer system upon change of an operation amountand modification of the hardware configuration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The conventional management system of the storage devices can displayinformation about various use situations in the devices. Accordingly, auser can be informed that the use capacity of a certain computer exceed90% (the rate of the use capacity to the maximum capacity assigned tothe computer) to thereby make treatment such as increase of theassignment amount or increase of a disk device.

In the conventional management system, however, since the displayed usesituations are information representing the situations at the presenttime, it is impossible to understand how the situations are changed inthe future. For example, even when the use capacity exceeds 90%, thereis a case where any problem does not arise even if it is left as it isfor a while when an increase rate is small, although it is necessary tomake treatment such as increase of an assignment capacity promptly whenthe increase rate is large. The conventional management system cannotmake management responsive to such change in the future.

Further, there is known the technique of predicting the performance asdescribed in JP-A-8-137725, while even if the technique is applied tomanagement of the storage devices, a prediction value is merely obtainedand a manager is required to judge how treatment is made in response tothe prediction value.

It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to analyzecondition information of storage devices and manage the storage deviceson the basis of the analyzed result.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the presentinvention, in order to manage the storage devices utilizing a storagearea network (SAN), there is established policy that prescribes actionseach executed when some object to be judged satisfies some conditionwith regard to storage devices. Information concerning use situations ofthe storage devices is collected and a value of an object to be judgedof the policy is calculated on the basis of the collected information tojudge whether the value of the object to be judged satisfies a conditionof the policy or not. In this judgment, when the condition of the policyis satisfied, the action of the policy is executed. The objects to bejudged of the policy include, for example, use capacity of storage, thenumber of I/O operations of disk or fragmentation. Further, the objectsto be judged include actual result values in the past, current values orprediction values in the future relative thereto. Execution of theaction of the policy is made by transmitting a command of the action toan integration control unit which integrates operations to each logicallayer of the SAN to be executed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a system towhich storage device management technique of the present invention isapplied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a characteristicportion in the system of the embodiment in detail;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a data protectionand integration control unit which an action execution unit instructs toexecute action and the like;

FIG. 4 shows an example of a user interface upon establishment ofpolicy;

FIG. 5 is a graph showing an example of change of objects to be judgedand prediction values;

FIG. 6 shows an example of the policy established;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing processing example of an agent;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing processing example of a performancemanager;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing processing example of a managementserver; and

FIGS. 10A and 10B show an example of a state transition diagram used forjudgment of condition.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the present invention is now described with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a storagenetwork system to which storage device management technique according tothe present invention is applied. The system includes host computers(hereinafter merely referred to as servers) 101, 102 and 103constituting servers, fiber channel switches (hereinafter referred toswitches) 111, 112, 113 and 114, disk devices (storages) 121, 122 and123, a performance management server 131, a management server 132 and amanagement client 133. The switches 111, 112, 113 and 114 and the diskdevices 121, 122 and 123 constitute a storage area network (SAN). Theperformance management server 131 is a computer which executes programsincluding the function of a performance manager 134.

The server 101, 102 and 103 are connected to the switches 111 and 112through lines 141 to 146 of SCSI. The switches 111 and 112 are connectedto the switches 113 and 114 through fiber channels 151 to 154 and theswitches 113 and 114 are connected to the disk devices 121, 122 and 123through fiber channels 161 to 166. Further, these apparatuses areconnected to a network shown by broken line 171. The protocol of thenetwork 171 is TCP/IP. The TCP/IP network 171 is provided so as tocontrol configuration and the like of the devices, detect trouble of thedevices and so on. Commands for making control by Telnet are defined forthe switches so as to make it possible to control the switches by thecommands. In the embodiment, the TCP/IP network 171 is used to obtainthe configuration information and the use situations of the storagenetwork.

Agents 181, 182 and 182 which are programs for collecting informationconcerning the use situations of the storages are operated in theservers 101, 102 and 103. The agents 181, 182 and 183 collectinformation concerning, for example, use capacities of the storages usedby the servers, the number of I/O operations of disk, fragmentation ineach used area and the like. The collected information is transmitted tothe performance manager 134 when a request is issued from theperformance manager 134 by polling.

The performance manager 134 is operated in the performance managementserver 131. The performance manager 134 collects information of variouskinds concerning the use situations of the storages in each server bypolling the agents 181, 182 and 183 operating in the servers using thestorages. Further, the performance manager analyzes the collectedinformation. This analyzation contains transition or change in the past,current actual results and prediction of the future. For example, asprediction values of the use capacity of a certain disk, predictionvalues of the use capacity predicted after one week and after one monthare calculated. What information is collected and what analyzation ismade can be designated by the user's policy. This will be described indetail later.

The management server 132 manages the storage devices of the system. Themanagement client 133 accesses to the management server 132 andinstructs the management server to display the configuration informationof the storage devices. The management client 133 displays a pictureshowing the configuration information of the storage network sent fromthe management server 132 in response to the instruction. Further, themanagement client 133 can access to the management server 132 to performcontrol of various kinds to the storage devices. For example, a maximumvalue of the use capacity for a certain server is set and changed.Moreover, the management client 133 can be connected to the managementserver 132 to select the policy. The policy is to relates to managementof the storage devices. Particularly, when the prediction values ofvarious kinds concerning the storage devices satisfy a predeterminedcondition, the system can establish the policy prescribing how thesystem cope therewith.

For example, the system can establish the policy that “if the predictionvalue of the use capacity of the disk device after one month for theserver 1 exceeds 100%, data in the disk device is moved to another diskdevice”. This is the policy instructing that the prediction value of theuse capacity of the disk device after one month for the disk device usedby the server 1 is calculated and if it exceeds 100%, data in the diskdevice is automatically moved to another disk device. Such policy can beestablished to thereby manage the storage device on the basis of theprediction value in the future. Similarly, management can be also madeon the basis of the actual results at the present time and in the past.A definite example of the policy will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a characteristicportion in the system of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in detail.

Servers 207 and 208 are computers corresponding to the servers 101, 102,103 and the like of FIG. 1. Agents 261 and 271 are operated in theservers 207 and 208, respectively. The agents 261 and 271 correspond tothe agents 181, 182, 183 and the like of FIG. 1. The servers 207 and 208are connected to databases (DB) 209 and 210, respectively. The DBs 209and 210 are formed in memory areas assigned to the servers by utilizingthe SAN of FIG. 1.

A performance manager 201 corresponds to the performance manager 134operated in the performance management server 131 of FIG. 1. Amanagement server 205 corresponds to the management server 132 ofFIG. 1. The performance manager 210, the servers 207 and 208 areconnected to a network 291. The performance manager 201 and themanagement server 205 are connected to a network 292. The networks 291and 292 are TCP/IP networks. The networks 291 and 292 correspond to thenetwork 171 of FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the management client corresponding tothe management client 133 of FIG. 1 is not shown, although themanagement client not shown is connected to the performance manager 201and the management server 205 to thereby make it possible to displayinformation of various kinds and give instructions.

The performance manager 201 is connected to a trigger issuing rulememory unit 202, a repository memory unit 203 and a collectedinformation and analyzed result memory unit 204. The collectedinformation and analyzed result memory unit 204 stores informationcollected by means of the agents 261 and 271 and analyzed resultsobtained by analyzing the collected information. The trigger issuingrule memory unit 202 stores a trigger issuing rule. The trigger issuingrule is a rule representing a condition for issuing a trigger (conditionfor starting the policy) to the management server 205. When thecollected information and the analyzed result satisfy the triggerissuing rule, the trigger is issued to the management server 205. Therepository memory unit 203 stores repository. The repository includesconfiguration information of the network, configuration information ofthe storages, scenario definition information, schedule information,policy definition information, history information and the like.

The management server 205 is provided with a policy memory unit 206. Thepolicy memory unit 206 stores the policy selected by the user. Themanagement server 205 includes a policy selection unit 241, a conditionjudgment unit 242 and an action execution unit 243. Further, theperformance manager 201 includes a trigger issuing unit 211, ananalyzation unit 212 and a collection unit 213.

The policy selection unit 241 of the management server 205 receivespolicy selection operation by the user and stores the selected policy inthe policy memory unit 206. The policy selection operation can be madefrom the management client (133 of FIG. 1) not shown. Further, thepolicy selection unit 241 sends the trigger issuing rule correspondingto the selected policy to the performance manager 201 and stores it inthe trigger issuing rule memory unit 202.

The collection unit 213 of the performance manager 201 polls the agents261 and 271 operating in the servers to thereby collect information ofvarious kinds in the servers. The collected results are stored in thecollected information and analyzed result memory unit 204. Theanalyzation unit 212 analyzes the collected information and stores theanalyzed result in the collected information and analyzed result memoryunit 204. The trigger issuing unit 211 judges whether the analyzedresult is coincident with the trigger issuing rule 202 or not. When thetrigger issuing rule is satisfied, a trigger signal is issued to betransmitted to the management server 205.

The management server 205 receives the issued trigger and the conditionjudgment unit 242 judges the condition containing the trigger to judgewhether action is executed or not. When the action is to be executed,the action execution unit 243 executes the predetermined action.

In execution of the action, an instruction that causes the computer, thestorage device, the program or the like to execute processing may betransmitted or processing in execution may be interrupted or otherprocessing may be executed.

The data of the trigger signal transmitted from the performance managerto the management server may contain information collected from thecomputer in which the program for managing the storage device isexecuted, information of the analyzed results of information of variouskinds, information inherent in the performance manager and otherinformation. For example, when a plurality of performance managers areoperated and the management server receives information from theplurality of performance managers, an identification is assigned to eachof the performance manager and the performance managers attach their ownidentification to data of the analyzed result to be transmitted to themanagement server to transmit the data to the management server so thatthe management server can identify the performance manager transmittingthe data to thereby make processing.

In FIG. 2, the performance management server and the management serverare shown as separate computers connected through the network, althoughthe function of the performance manager and the function of the programoperating in the management server may be implemented by the samecomputer. Further, in FIG. 2, the management server 205 is connected tothe network 292, although the server 205 may be connected to the network291.

In the above configuration, the policy for managing the storage devicescan be executed on the basis of transition in the past, current actualresults and prediction of the future.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a data protection andintegration control unit which the action execution unit 243 instructsto execute the action and management tools which execute the actionsinstructed actually in each logical layer of the system by the dataprotection and integration control unit.

In FIG. 3, numerals 301 to 307 shown in the left represent logicallayers of the storage configuration of the system shown in FIG. 1. DB301 represents a layer of logical databases. In this layer, the databaseis composed of some tables and each of the table is specified by a tablename. File 302 represents a layer of logical files. In this layer, thetables constituting the database are composed of the logical files andeach of the files is specified by a file name. File System 303represents a layer of logical file systems. In this layer, the filesystem in which the logical files are registered is specified. LVM(logical volume) 304 is a layer of logical disk volumes. In this layer,each of the logical volumes is specified by a logical volume name.Device File 305 is a layer of device files which are interfaces ofindividual disks in an actual RAID constituting the logical volume. Inthis layer, the individual disk constituting the logical volume isspecified by a logical device name. SAN 306 is a layer of storage areanetworks constituted by the RAID. LDEV 307 is a layer of physical disks.In this layer, a disk of the logical device name is specified by aserial number for identifying a housing of the RAID and a disk numberfor identifying each disk in the housing.

Management tools 311 to 315 in the layers are provided. DBMS (DBmanagement system) 311 is a tool for managing the databases and thefiles in the layers of DB 301 and File 302. A file system control unit312 is a tool for managing the files and the file systems in the layersof File 302 and File System 303. A logical volume control unit 313 is atool for managing the logical volumes in the layer of LVM 304 mainly andfurther makes even management of the layers of File System 303 andDevice File 305 in relation to the logical volumes. RAID apparatuscontrol unit 315 is a tool for managing the RAID in the layer of DeviceFile 305 to LDEV 307.

The data protection and integration control unit 320 manages thecorrespondence relation of objects representing how objects correspondto in the layers from DB 301 of the higher rank to the LDEV 307 of thelower rank. Further, the data protection and integration control unit320 provides the function for making it possible to execute operationsuch as backup and restore by one command. Consequently, the integrationmanager is merely required to give the data protection and integrationcontrol unit 320 an instruction by means of a simple command such as,for example, “back the table of DB up” even if the manager does not haveany knowledge about all the layers. This reason is that the dataprotection and integration control unit 320 can follow the layers fromthe table name to the lower layer to easily understand the physical diskin which the table is stored and the group of the disk to be backed upis previously defined. Numeral 321 represents repository (management DB)corresponding to the repository memory unit 203 of FIG. 2. Therepository 321 includes link information representing the correspondencerelation from the higher-rank layer to the lower-rank layer. Numeral 330represents a remote host sharing the LDEV 377. Numeral 308 represents alayer of a tape medium used when back-up is made to a tape device. Aback-up apparatus control unit 318 is a management tool provided so asto easily make back-up processing particularly.

In the embodiment, the action execution unit 243 of FIG. 2 issues anaction instruction 340 to the data protection and integration controlunit 320 which integrates and controls the layers as described above tothereby execute action of various kinds. The data protection andintegration control unit 320 is provided in the management server 205.When the data protection and integration control unit 320 givesinstructions to the control units 311, 312, 313, 315 and 318 of thelayers, the instructions are sent via the TCP/IP network 171 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a user interface upon establishment of thepolicy. The policy is basically composed of objects to be judged,conditions and action.

The objects to be judged are measured values of various kinds concerningthe storages and contains transition in the past, current actual resultsand prediction of the future. As the objects to be judged, the capacity,the number of I/O operations of disk and fragmentation can bedesignated. The capacity contains, for example, “the current usecapacity (the use capacity of the memory medium at the present time) ofthe server 1”, “the prediction value of the use capacity after one monthof the server 1” and the like. Further, a value utilizing a differentialvalue of the use capacity such as an increase rate of the use capacitycalculated from transition of the use capacity in the past is allowed tobe contained in the objects to be judged. With regard to the number ofI/O operations of disk, “the number of I/O operations of disk during apredetermined period”, “an increase rate at the present time of thenumber of I/O operations of disk”, “a cumulative value of the numbers ofI/O operations of disk during a predetermined period”, “a predictionvalue of the number of I/O operation of disk of tomorrow” and the likeare allowed to be contained in the objects to be judged. With regard tothe fragmentation, “fragmentation at the present time”, “a predictionvalue of fragmentation after one month” and the like are allowed to becontained in the objects to be judged. Numeral 401 represents an exampleof a list box for establishing the objects to be judged. Although notshown in FIG. 4, a server or a disk device of which a current capacityand the like is calculated can be designated.

The conditions are established for the objects to be judged. Forexample, the condition that the object to be judged “exceeds 40%”,“exceeds 60%” and the like can be designated. Numeral 402 represents thelist box for establishing the conditions for the objects to be judged.

The action is executed when the object to be judged satisfies thecondition. Numeral 403 represents an action description area in whichthe action is described and a command of the action desired to beexecuted is described in this area. Describable commands are commandsfor the data protection and integration control unit 320 explained withreference to FIG. 3. The data protection and integration control unit320 integrates the tools of the layers to perform processing andaccordingly an instruction of the action can be given by describing asimple command. The actions are, for example, as follows:

-   -   to copy a predetermined file to another disk device;    -   to delete a temporary file;    -   to compress a predetermined file;    -   to back up to a tape or the like;    -   to issue a message for adding a disk;    -   to inform by means of an electronic mail or a picture display        that the condition for the object to be judged is satisfied;    -   to move a file having a high use frequency to another file;    -   to disperse loads by duplication of paths; and    -   to move files so that files roughly resembling or equal to each        other in the capacity thereof are stored in the same disk.

The list box is used to make selection by clicking a downward triangularmark at the right, although the method of establishing the policy is notlimited thereto.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a graph of change of the object to be judgedand prediction values. The abscissa axis represents time and theordinate axis represent the use capacity. Numeral 501 represents a curveshowing the object to be judged such as, for example, the use capacityof a certain disk. The point indicated by numeral 502 represents at thismoment in time. A graph 512 of the normal prediction value, a graph 513of the lower-limit prediction value and a graph 511 of the upper-limitprediction value are shown starting from this moment in time 502. Inthis way, when the “prediction value” is designated, the normalprediction value, the upper-limit prediction value or the lower-limitprediction value can be designated. Such graphs of the prediction valuescan be known by any prediction method known heretofore.

FIG. 6 shows an example the policy established. In the policy definingthat (1) “when the use capacity of disk for the server 1 exceeds 80%,the temporary file is deleted”, the object to be judged is “the usecapacity of disk at this moment in time for the server 1”, the conditionis “to exceed 80%” and the action is “to delete the temporary file”. Inthe policy defining that (2) “when the prediction value of the usecapacity of disk after one month for the server 1 exceeds 100%, datastored in the disk device is move to another disk device”, the object tobe judged is “the prediction value of the use capacity of disk for theserver 1”, the condition is “to exceed 100%” and the action is “to movedata stored in the disk device used by the server 1 to another diskdevice”. In this case, data (file) to be moved may be designatedpreviously.

In the policy defining that (3) “when the prediction value of the usecapacity of disk after two month for the server 1 exceeds 100%, thetemporary file in the disk device is deleted and when the predictionvalue of the use capacity of disk after two month exceeds 100% evenafter the deletion, data stored in the disk device is compressed”, theobject to be judged is “the prediction value of the use capacity of diskafter two month for the server 1”, the condition is “to exceed 100%” andthe action is “to delete the temporary file in the disk device used bythe server 1 and when the prediction value of the use capacity of diskafter two month even after the deletion, data in the disk device isdeleted”. In this case, the action is to be described using the script.The data protection and integration control unit 320 has the function ofinterpreting the script and executing it.

In the policy defining that (4) “when the prediction value of the usecapacity of disk after one month for the disk device 1 exceeds 80% andwhen the prediction value of the use capacity of disk after one monthfor the disk device 2 exceeds 80%, the message that a disk device shouldbe added is displayed”, the object to be judged is “the prediction valueof the use capacity of disk after one month for the disk device 1” and“the prediction value of the use capacity of disk after one month forthe disk device 2”, the condition is “to exceed 80%” for both theobjects and the action is “the message that a disk device should beadded is displayed”. This is an example that sets of the objects to bejudged and the conditions are combined by AND. In this case, a userinterface for designating the combination of such conditions isrequired.

In the policy defining that (5) “when the increase rate at this momentin time of the number of I/O operations (for a predetermined period) forthe disk device 1 is equal to or larger than a predetermined value RP,the file having the use frequency within a predetermined period in thepast which is equal to or larger than XX times is moved to another diskdevice”, the object to be judged is “the increase rate at this moment intime of the number of I/O operations (for a predetermined period) forthe disk device 1”, the condition is “to be equal to or larger than apredetermined value RP” and the action is “the file having the usefrequency within a predetermined period in the past which is equal to orlarger than XX times is moved to another disk device”.

In the policy defining that (6) “when the prediction value of thefragmentation after one month for the disk device 1 is equal to orlarger than 50%, optimization is made”, the object to be judged is “theprediction value of the fragmentation after one month for the diskdevice 1”, the condition is “to be equal to or larger than 50%” and theaction is “the disk device 1 is optimized”.

FIG. 7 shows an example of processing of the agents 261 and 271. FIG. 7(a) shows a procedure of information collection processing. In step 701,information about the objects to be collected is collected. For example,information about {circle around (1)} the use capacity, {circle around(2)} the number of I/O operations of disk, {circle around (3)}fragmentation and the like is collected. In next step 702, the collectedinformation is stored in a buffer 703. The collection processing ofinformation is executed repeatedly at regular intervals.

FIG. 7( b) shows the procedure of information transmission processing.This information transmission processing is executed when polling isperformed from the performance manager. First, in step 704, necessaryinformation is obtained from the buffer 703. In step 705, the obtainedinformation is transmitted to the performance manager 201. Theinformation obtained to be transmitted is to be designated by polling.

FIG. 8 shows an example of processing of the performance manager 201.The performance manager 201 collects information in step 801. In thisprocessing, the performance manager 201 makes polling to each of theagents and collects information of various kinds transmitted from eachof the agents in the processing of FIG. 7( b). The collected informationis stored in the collected information and analyzed result memory unit204 shown in FIG. 2. In step 802, the collected information is analyzed.Prediction values for various objects to be judged are also calculatedif necessary. Next, in step 803, whether the collected information andthe analyzed results satisfy the trigger issuing rule 202 or not isjudged. When the rule is satisfied, the trigger is issued.

Further, the trigger issuing rule 202 is composed of the objects to bejudged and the conditions of the established policy. When the policy isestablished, the objects to be judged and the conditions of the policyare transmitted from the management server 206 to the performancemanager 201 to be stored as the trigger issuing rule 202.

FIG. 9 shows an example of processing of the management server 205. Themanagement server 205 selects the policy in step 901. The selection ofthe policy has been described with reference to FIG. 4 and the like. Thetrigger issuing rule corresponding to the selected policy is transmittedto the performance manager 201 to be stored as the trigger issuing rule202. Thereafter, each time the trigger transmitted from the performancemanager 201 is received, the processing in steps 902 and 903 isrepeated. That is, in step 902, the condition of the policy relative tothe received trigger is judged. When the condition is satisfied, theaction corresponding to the condition is executed in step 903.

Further, the condition to be judged in step 902 is not only thecondition relative to the trigger transmitted from the performancemanagement manger 201. There is a case where the management server 205makes judgment independently besides the judgment by the performancemanager 201. For example, when the condition in a mere storageconfiguration which is not related to the prediction value relative tothe storages is judged, the judgment can be made by only the managementserver 205. Further, a plurality of performance managers 201 may beprovided in the system. For example, the storages may be classified intogroups in accordance with any category and a plurality of performancemanager may be provided as a performance manager given charge of a firstgroup and a performance manager given charge of a second group and soon. In this case, when the policy includes a combination of AND and ORof triggers from the plurality of performance management mangers,whether the condition of the policy is effective or not is decided bythe management server 205 (step 902).

FIGS. 10A and 10B show an example of a state transition diagram used injudgment of conditions. In FIG. 10A, states to which a state is to bemoved next in response to each event occurring in each of states aredescribed. For example, when an event (trigger) I1 occurs at a state S1,the state is moved to S2. When an event (trigger) I2 occurs at the stateS2, an action Z1 is executed. In FIG. 10B, a command and a parameter ofthe action Z1 are described and the command to be issued for the actionZ1 is understood. By using such a state transition diagram, someconditions can be combined to execute an action.

In the embodiment, the performance management server and the managementserver are constructed separately, although they may be constructed onthe same computer.

As described above, according to the embodiment, since the situationinformation of the storage devices constituting the SAN (Storage AreaNetwork) is collected to calculate the actual result value in the past,the current value or the prediction value in the future relative to theuse capacity of the storages, the number of I/O operations of disk orthe fragmentation and the predetermined action is executed when thecondition of the policy established thereby is satisfied, flexiblestorage management can be made in conformity with the situations.Particularly, since management is made on the basis of the predictionvalue in the future, treatment can be made in accordance with thesituations predicted after one month, for example.

As described above, according to the present invention, since thesituation information of the storage devices is collected and it isinstructed that processing is executed on the basis of the collectedinformation and previously defined contents of processing and execution,the storage devices can be managed flexibly in accordance with thestate.

It should be further understood by those skilled in the art thatalthough the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of theinvention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method for managing data processed in an information processingsystem having a management computer, a plurality of server computers anda plurality of storage systems coupled to the server computers via anetwork, the server computers sending data to at least one of thestorage systems, the method comprising: displaying, on the managementcomputer, configuration information depicting the server computers, atleast one switch in the network, the storage systems and the networkcoupling the server computers and the storage systems via the at leastone switch; defining, by input to the management computer, a datamovement condition to trigger movement of data to be processed by atleast one of the server computers and at least one of the storagesystems in the configuration information displayed on the managementcomputer, the data movement condition including that the data is storedfor a certain period of time; identifying data that satisfies the datamovement condition; moving the identified data that satisfies the datamovement condition from a storage area to another storage area, thestorage area and the another storage area relating to one or more disksin the storage systems in the configuration information displayed on themanagement computer; defining, by input to the management computer, adata compression condition to trigger compression of data to beprocessed by at least one of the server computers and at least one ofthe storage systems in the configuration information displayed on themanagement computer, identifying data that satisfies the datacompression condition; and compressing the identified data thatsatisfies the data compression condition.
 2. A method according to claim1, wherein the period of time is a period of time in which the data ismonitored for identifying data that satisfies the data movementcondition.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the data movementcondition further includes an access frequency within said period oftime.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the data movementcondition includes a capacity of a storage area in a storage system atan end of the period of time, and wherein the method further comprisesobtaining prediction capacity values for each of a plurality of storageareas each corresponding to one of the storage systems, such that theidentifying step identifies a storage area satisfying the data movementcondition based on the prediction capacity values, and the moving stepmoves data from the identified storage area to the another storage area.5. A method for managing data processed in an information processingsystem having a management computer, a plurality of server computers anda plurality of storage systems coupled to the server computers via anetwork, the server computers sending data to at least one of thestorage systems, the method comprising: displaying, on the managementcomputer, a configuration describing the server computers, at least oneswitch in the network and the storage systems; being set, by input tothe management computer, a data deletion condition to trigger deletionof data that is processed by at least one of the server computers and atleast one of the storage systems in the configuration displayed on themanagement computer, the data deletion condition including that the datais stored for a certain period of time; identifying data that satisfiesthe data deletion condition; deleting the identified data that satisfiesthe data deletion condition from a storage area, which relates to atleast one disk in the at least one of the storage systems and stores theidentified data, being set, by input to the management computer, a datacompression condition to trigger compression of data that is processedby at least one of the server computers and at least one of the storagesystems in the configuration displayed on the management computer,identifying, data that satisfies the data compression condition; andcompressing the identified data that satisfies the data compressioncondition.
 6. A method for managing one or more files in an informationprocessing system having a management computer, a plurality of servercomputers and a plurality of storage systems coupled to the servercomputers via a network, the server computers sending data to at leastone of the storage systems, the method comprising: displaying, on themanagement computer, a configuration depicting the server computers, atleast one switch in the network, the storage systems and a plurality ofpaths being used to couple among the server computers, the at least oneswitch and the storage systems; being inputted, on the managementcomputer, a file deletion condition to trigger deletion of a file fromat least one of the storage systems in the configuration displayed onthe management computer, the file deletion condition including that thefile is stored for a certain period of time; identifying at least onefile that satisfies the file deletion condition; deleting the datacorresponding to the identified file from the at least one of thestorage systems in the configuration displayed on the managementcomputer; being inputted, on the management computer, a file compressioncondition to trigger compression of a file to be processed by at leastone of the server computers and at least one of the storage systems inthe configuration displayed on the management computer, identifying atleast one file that satisfies the file compression condition; andcompressing data corresponding to the identified file that satisfies thedata compression condition.
 7. A method according to claim 6, whereinthe file deletion condition includes a rate of a use capacity of astorage area in one of the storage systems, such that the identifyingstep of the file deletion condition identifies the at least one filestored in a storage area that exceeds the rate of a use capacity, andthe deleting step deletes the data corresponding to the identified filefrom the storage area.
 8. An information processing system, comprising:a plurality of storage systems coupled to a network and having aplurality of storage areas related to one or more disks, a plurality ofserver computers coupled to the storage systems via the network andsending data to at least one of the storage systems via the network, anda management computer coupled to the server computers and the storagesystems, wherein the management computer displays configurationinformation depicting the server computers, at least one switch in thenetwork and the storage systems; wherein, if the management computerreceives a data movement condition to trigger movement of data to beprocessed by at least one of the server computers and at least one ofthe storage systems in the configuration information displayed on themanagement computer, the management computer stores the data movementcondition, the data movement condition including that the data is storedfor a certain period of time; wherein the storage systems move anidentified data that satisfies the data movement condition from one ofthe storage areas to another one of the storage areas after spending thecertain period of time, wherein, if the management computer receives adata compression condition to trigger compression of data to beprocessed by at least one of the server computers and at least one ofthe storage systems in the configuration information displayed on themanagement computer, the management computer stores the data compressioncondition; wherein at least one of the server computers and the storagesystems compresses an identified data that satisfies the datacompression condition.
 9. An information processing system according toclaim 8, wherein the period of time is a period of time in which thedata is monitored for identification of data that satisfies the datamovement condition.
 10. An information processing system according toclaim 8, wherein the data movement condition includes an accessfrequency within the period of time.
 11. An information processingsystem according to claim 8, wherein the data movement conditionincludes a capacity of a storage area of one of the storage systems atan end of the period of time, wherein the computer obtains predictioncapacity values for each of a plurality of storage areas of the storagesystems, and wherein at least either the computer or at least one of theserver computers identifies at least one storage area of one of thestorage systems satisfying the data movement condition based on theprediction capacity values, and moves data from the identified storagearea to another storage area.
 12. An information processing systemaccording to claim 8, wherein at least either the computer or at leastone of the server computers has a plurality of programs and a memorywhich stores link information of each of the programs, and at leasteither the computer or at least one of the server computers identifiesnecessary programs to issue a command based on the link information, thecommand targeted to at least one of the storage systems based on theidentification of data that satisfies the data movement condition. 13.An information processing system, comprising: a plurality of storagesystems coupled to a network and having a plurality of storage areasrelated to a plurality of disks, a plurality of server computers coupledto the storage systems via the network and sending data to at least oneof the storage systems via the network, and a management computercoupled to the server computers and the storage systems, wherein themanagement computer displays configuration information describing theserver computers, at least one switch in the network, the storagesystems and a plurality of paths being used to couple among the servercomputers, the at least one switch and the storage systems, wherein themanagement computer is inputted with a data deletion condition totrigger deletion of data processed by at least one of the servercomputers and at least one of the storage systems in the configurationinformation displayed on the management computer; wherein the storagesystems delete an identified data that satisfies the data deletioncondition based on identifying data that satisfies the data deletioncondition; wherein the management computer is inputted with a datacompression condition to trigger compression of data processed by atleast one of the server computers and at least one of the storagesystems in the configuration information displayed on the managementcomputer, and wherein at least one of the server computers and thestorage systems compresses an identified data that satisfies the datacompression condition based on identifying data that satisfies the datacompression condition.
 14. An information processing system for managingone or more files, comprising: a plurality of storage systems coupled toa network and having a plurality of storage areas related to a pluralityof disks, a plurality of server computers coupled to the storage systemsvia the network and sending data to at least one of the storage systemsvia the network, and a management computer coupled to the servercomputers and the storage systems, wherein the management computerdisplays a configuration depicting the server computers, at least oneswitch in the network and the storage systems; wherein the managementcomputer is set with a file deletion condition to trigger deletion of atleast one file to be processed by at least one of the server computersand at least one of the storage systems in the configuration displayedon the management computer, the file deletion condition including thatthe at least one file is stored for a certain period of time; whereinthe storage systems delete the data of one or more identified files fromthe one or more of the storage systems after the certain period of time,the one or more identified files satisfying the file deletion condition;wherein of the management computer is set with a file compressioncondition to trigger file compression; and wherein at least one of theserver computers and the storage systems compresses data of one or moreidentified files that satisfy the file compression condition.
 15. Aninformation processing system according to claim 14, wherein the filedeletion condition includes a rate of a use capacity of a storagesystem, such that at least either the management computer or at leastone of the server computers identifies the one or more filescorresponding to data stored in at least one storage system that exceedsthe rate of a use capacity.
 16. A method according to claim 1, whereinthe data movement condition is defined for data of a certain file thatsatisfies another condition.
 17. A method according to claim 1, whereinthe data movement condition is defined for data of a plurality ofcertain files that satisfy another condition.
 18. A method according toclaim 5, wherein the data deletion condition is set for data of acertain file that satisfies another condition.
 19. A method according toclaim 5, wherein the data deletion condition is set for data of aplurality of certain files that satisfy another condition.
 20. A methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the file deletion condition is inputtedfor a certain file that satisfies another condition.
 21. A methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the file deletion condition is inputtedfor a plurality of certain files that satisfy another condition.
 22. Aninformation processing system according to claim 8, wherein the datamovement condition is defined for data of a certain file that satisfiesanother condition.
 23. An information processing system according toclaim 8, wherein the data movement condition is defined for data of aplurality of certain files that satisfy another condition.
 24. Aninformation processing system according to claim 13, wherein the datadeletion condition is inputted for data of a certain file that satisfiesanother condition.
 25. An information processing system according toclaim 13, wherein the data deletion condition is inputted for data of aplurality of certain files that satisfy another condition.
 26. Aninformation processing system according to claim 14, wherein the filedeletion condition is set for a certain file that satisfies anothercondition.
 27. An information processing system according to claim 14,wherein the file deletion condition is set for a plurality of certainfiles that satisfy another condition.
 28. A method for managing dataprocessed in an information processing system having a managementcomputer, a plurality of server computers and a plurality of storagescoupled to the server computers via a network, the server computerssending data to at least one of the storages the method comprising:displaying, on the management computer, configuration informationdescribing the server computers, at least one switch in the network andthe storages; being set, by input to the management computer, a datamovement condition to trigger movement of data to be processed by atleast one of the server computers and at least one of the storages inthe configuration information displayed on the management computer, thedata movement condition including that the data is stored for a periodof time in which the data is monitored; moving an identified data thatsatisfies the data movement condition between a plurality of storageareas related to a plurality of disks in the storages after the periodof time, being set, by input to the management computer, datacompression condition to trigger compression of data to be processed byat least one of the server computers and at least one of the storages inthe configuration information displayed on the management computer; andcompressing an identified data that satisfies the data compressioncondition.
 29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the data movementcondition is set for data of a certain file that satisfies anothercondition.
 30. A method according to claim 28, wherein the data movementcondition is set for data of a plurality of certain files that satisfyanother condition.
 31. A method for managing data processed in aninformation processing system having a management computer, a pluralityof server computers and a plurality of storage systems coupled to theserver computers via a network, the server computers sending data to atleast one of the storage systems, the method comprising: displaying, onthe management computer, configuration information depicting the servercomputers, at least one switch in the network, the storage systems and aplurality of paths being used to couple among the server computers, theat least one switch in the network and the storage systems; beinginputted, by input to the management computer, a data movement conditionto trigger movement of data to be processed by at least one of theserver computers and at least one of the storage systems in theconfiguration information displayed on the management computer;identifying data that satisfies the data movement condition; moving theidentified data from a storage area to another storage area, the storagearea and the another storage area relating to one or more disks in thestorage systems in the configuration information displayed on themanagement computer; being inputted, by the management computer, a datacompression condition to trigger compression of data to be processed byat least one of the server computers and at least one of the storagesystems in the configuration information displayed on the managementcomputer; identifying, data that satisfies the data compressioncondition; and compressing the identified data that satisfies the datacompression condition.
 32. A method according to claim 31, furthercomprising: being inputted, by using the management computer, a datadeletion condition to trigger deletion of data to be processed by atleast one of the server computers and at least one of the storagesystems in the configuration information displayed on the managementcomputer; identifying data that satisfies the data deletion condition;and deleting the identified data that satisfies the data deletioncondition.
 33. A method according to claim 31, wherein: the datamovement condition includes that the data is stored for a certain periodof time.
 34. A method according to claim 31, further comprising: beinginputted, by the management computer, a data deletion condition totrigger deletion of data to be processed by at least one of the servercomputers and at least one of the storage systems in the configurationinformation displayed on the management computer; wherein the datadeletion condition includes that the data is stored for a certain periodof time.
 35. A method according to claim 31, wherein: the datacompression condition includes that the data is stored for a certainperiod of time.
 36. A method for managing one or more files processed inan information processing system having a management computer, aplurality of server computers and a plurality of storage systems coupledto the server computers via a network, the server computers sending datato at least one of the storage systems, the method comprising:displaying, on the management computer, a configuration describing theserver computers, at least one switch in the network and the storagesystems; being inputted, by input to the management computer, a filedeletion condition to trigger deletion of at least one file to beprocessed by at least one of the server computers and at least one ofthe storage systems in the configuration displayed on the managementcomputer; identifying one or more files that satisfy the file deletioncondition; deleting data corresponding to the identified files thatsatisfy the file deletion condition from the one or more of the storagesystems; being inputted, by input to the management computer, a filecompression condition to trigger compression of at least one file to beprocessed by at least one of the server computers and at least one ofthe storage systems in the configuration displayed on the managementcomputer, identifying one or more files that satisfy the filecompression condition; and compressing data corresponding to theidentified files that satisfy the file compression condition.
 37. Amethod according to claim 1, further comprising: issuing a commandtargeted to at least one of the storage systems based on the identifyingstep for identifying data that satisfies the data movement condition;wherein the moving step is processed in response to the command.
 38. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the network is a Storage AreaNetwork (SAN).
 39. A method according to claim 5, further comprising:issuing a command targeted to at least one of the storage systems basedon the identifying step for identifying data that satisfies the datadeletion condition; wherein the deleting step is processed in responseto the command.
 40. A method according to claim 5, wherein the networkis a Storage Area Network (SAN).
 41. A method according to claim 6,further comprising: issuing a command targeted to at least one of thestorage systems based on the identifying step identifying at least onefile that satisfies the file deletion condition; wherein the deletingstep is processed in response to the command.
 42. A method according toclaim 6, wherein the network is a Storage Area Network (SAN).
 43. Aninformation processing system according to claim 8, wherein at leasteither the management computer or at least one of the server computersidentifies data that satisfies the data movement condition; and issues acommand targeted to at least one of the storage systems based on theidentification of data that satisfies the data movement condition; andwherein the at least one of the storage systems moves the identifieddata that satisfies the data movement condition in response to thecommand.
 44. A method according to claim 8, wherein the network is aStorage Area Network (SAN).
 45. An information processing systemaccording to claim 13, wherein at least either the management computeror at least one of the server computers identifies data that satisfiesthe data deletion condition; and issues a command targeted to at leastone of the storage systems based on the identification of data thatsatisfies the data deletion condition; and wherein the at least one ofthe storage systems deletes the identified data that satisfies the datadeletion condition in response to the command.
 46. A method according toclaim 13, wherein the network is a Storage Area Network (SAN).
 47. Aninformation processing system according to claim 14, wherein at leasteither the management computer or at least one of the server computersidentifies one or more files that satisfies the file deletion condition;and issues a command targeted to at least one of the storage systemsbased on the identification of the one or more files that satisfies thefile deletion condition; and wherein the at least one of the storagesystems deletes the one or more identified files that satisfies the filedeletion condition in response to the command.
 48. A method according toclaim 14, wherein the network is a Storage Area Network (SAN).
 49. Amethod according to claim 28, further comprising: identifying data thatsatisfies the data movement condition, and issuing a command targeted toat least one of the storages based on the identification of the datathat satisfies the file deletion condition; wherein the moving step isprocessed in response to the command.
 50. A method according to claim28, wherein the network is a Storage Area Network (SAN).
 51. A methodaccording to claim 31, further comprising: issuing a command targeted toat least one of the storage systems based on the identifying step;wherein the moving step is processed in response to the command.
 52. Amethod according to claim 31, wherein the network is a Storage AreaNetwork (SAN).
 53. A method according to claim 36, further comprising:issuing a command, targeted to at least one of the storage systems basedon the identifying step; wherein the deleting step is processed inresponse to the command.
 54. A method according to claim 36, wherein thenetwork is a Storage Area Network (SAN).